![]() ![]() The song is a triumphant embrace of the nihilistic idea that life only has the meaning that we give it - it is, ultimately, a road to nowhere. ("but they'll make a fool of you / and it's all right, baby it's all right".) The city he envisions that is growing day by day is the community that we build, bit by bit, as we connect with other human beings. You're invited to come travel the road to nowhere, to help him sing this song, and fuck the haters. I've always understood this song to be about life and the meaning we find in it through the meaningful connections - friends, family, loved ones - that we make along the way. I, uh, somehow never made this connection? It's obvious now, reading the lyrics: the road to paradise, the "city in my mind" is Heaven/the afterlife, "it's very far away / but it's growing day by day", the repeated assurances that it's alright, etc. Sing an arms-open paean to the inevitability of death. This article on the recording of Little Creatures, with a specific focus on Road to Nowhere, is a superb insight into Eric Thorngren’s techniques and thought processes and is very much worth a read: Whatever the truth, the effect is an instantly memorable opening, with the intimate-but-strong gospel choir - augmented by at least 3 different vocal tracks from Byrne - combining to sing an arms-open paen to the inevitability of death. However, years later in an interview album engineer Eric Thorngren also implied that he was the clever one to have suggested the choral opening. Yet the arrangement never feels cluttered or overblown, with each individual contribution perfectly integrated.ĭavid Byrne has stated more than once that, shamed and/or embarrassed that his song was ‘only 2 chords’ (there are actually five chords, but the E and the C#minor do get a good work out) he tacked on the gospel-style choir part which opens the song and serves it so effectively as a scene-setter. The recording manages to find parts for no less than 5 backing vocalists (with Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth further adding their voices to the mix), 2 additional percussionists (Talking Heads stalwart Steve Scales on tambourine, and Andrew Cader’s washboard), a horn chart from Lenny Pickett and an accordian part originally suggested by Harrison and performed by Jimmy Macdonell (Macdonell’s playing in particular adds much in terms of the song’s colour and character). Road to Nowhere is an optimal example of a well-loved late-career Talking Heads song that manages to combine critical acclaim with commercial appeal. ![]() ![]() The weight of critical opinion decrees that Talking Heads entered an irreversible period of decline after the exhausting triumph of their Stop Making Sense tour/film - but Road to Nowhere emphatically refutes that assertion. I rank them pretty high overall.ġ0: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology. I enjoy it quite a bit.Ĩ-9: Really enjoyable songs. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.ħ: This is a good song. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? What’s your favorite live performance of the song? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?ĥ: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.Ħ: Slightly better than average. This is the ninth and final track from Talking Heads’ sixth album, Little Creatures. ![]()
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